1:24:05
Here we are removing the eggs
of a white rabbit...
1:24:09
..from the Fallopian tubes.
1:24:13
Now you see the egg
under a microscope.
1:24:16
I have brought the point of an ordinary
sewing needle into view...
1:24:21
- ..to give an idea of the size.
- They are that small?
1:24:25
Most mammal eggs are about that size.
1:24:28
- Including human eggs?
- Yes.
1:24:30
The next step is to destroy
the egg nucleus...
1:24:35
..with ultraviolet light...
1:24:37
..so that none of its genetic makeup
remains.
1:24:43
Now you see an egg from a white rabbit...
1:24:46
..ready to be injected with the blood cell
from a black rabbit donor.
1:24:51
With the injection pipette...
1:24:54
..one of the blood cells is sucked up
and then injected into the egg.
1:25:03
After a few hours,
the eggs in culture divide...
1:25:06
..and are ready to be put back
into the female.
1:25:13
There they grow into embryos...
1:25:16
..which, in a month's time,
the normal gestation period,...
1:25:21
..will become baby rabbits.
1:25:23
In this instance...
1:25:25
..a black litter from a white mother.
1:25:29
Their black colour proves
that they have been cloned...
1:25:32
..from the blood cell of a black rabbit.
1:25:49
But isn't it difficult
to get the egg back into the female?
1:25:53
Transferring the eggs isn't a problem. We
do it all the time with laboratory animals.
1:25:58
The really tricky part is the microsurgery.